Ordinary Habits Will Build Extraordinary Wealth
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How should a newly engaged flight instructor tackle $120,000 in debt and low starting pay?
Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broken. Common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network and the Fairwinds Credit Union studio, this is The Ramsey Show. Jade Walshaw, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. Michael is in Dallas. Hey, Michael, how are you? I'm so good. How are you, sir? Better than I deserve. What's up?
So I am $120,000 in debt. I'm about to graduate college, and I'm getting married in April.
I currently have not a lot of money, and I was just going to ask how I should handle that debt and preparation for marriage.
Wow.
Got a lot going on.
Congratulations on graduating. What's your degree in?
It's in aviation. Wow.
So what are you going to do, fly?
Yeah, that's the plan. Currently, I'm a flight instructor. I just got hired, but I haven't gotten any students yet. So the income's not really coming in yet. And then I'm building those flight hours to eventually go to the airline. So that's the path currently.
What does a flight instructor earn?
$20 an hour for the first 30 days and then $25. And then with room for growth, but nothing crazy.
Are you going to be getting a full-time job out of this flight instruction that you've signed up for?
Oh, yeah, for sure. That's the plan. It just slows down at first, and then after the 60 days, then they'll start to give you more students, and then it can become a pretty heavy 40-hour-a-week kind of workload.
Where are you living right now until the marriage?
McKinney, Texas.
No, no, no. How are you living? Are you renting with parents, roommates?
Yeah, I'm with my father.
Okay, with your dad. So you're not paying any rent?
No, ma'am. Okay. And what is your fiancée going to be doing for a living?
She's going to be doing esthetician. She's currently about to go to esthetician school, and she's going to be graduating in January and then hopefully finding a job. But that will be pretty soon before marriage, so there's not going to be a lot of income coming from her, at least before the marriage starts.
What's you all's plan as far as, because both of you have a bit of a ramp up to income. What's you all's plan? What have you said as far as living and paying?
Yeah, I mean, the plan currently is just kind of like you always say, just live below the means. But it's kind of hard. You know, we're young, and we want to do this, that, and the other thing. So it's kind of a different thing.
This, that, and the other thing cost you $120,000. You're done with this, that, and the other thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This, that, and the other thing, that's the name of your four new jobs. This, that, and the other thing.
Yeah.
Okay, I like it. I like it.
Yeah, that's the biggest thing that I see as an issue here. Debt aside, just getting your income up enough to where you guys can come together and have a life together is what I'm looking at. And then once you can get on some solid footing with your income coming in, of course, yeah, we need to tackle the debt. Does she have debt?
You need six side hustles in the meantime because your path to aviation is a slow plan.
Yes.
It's going to be a while before you make money.
That is true. Yeah, that is true. It's going to be a while before I make some good money. I totally agree with that. But, yeah, I mean, to really answer the question, again, it's just live below the means. And we've kind of planned it out. Yeah, but you don't have any means.
That's my point. The first thing we need to think about, and this is your homework, so let's make this easy to think about. Your homework tonight is brainstorming what you will do in between students. Because let's say you start out and you only have two or three students. You have a whole work week to do with. So let's brainstorm some ideas that are going to bring in real money. And to Dave's point, it might be two or three different things or five or six different things that you can start applying for and doing immediately because as much of this debt, the first thing is let's have means to live.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
How should a newly engaged flight instructor tackle $120,000 in debt and low starting pay?
0:05–9:50
2
Why is choosing a career with a slow income ramp a reason to build multiple side hustles?
9:50–32:52
3
When should you prefer Roth vs. traditional 401(k) contributions and what long‑term tax mistakes cost you?
32:52–1:08:49
4
How should I handle settlement offers and avoid bank account scams for creditor repayments?
1:08:49–1:10:34
5
What’s the recommended plan to pay off $610,000 of non-mortgage debt in one year?
1:10:34–1:18:43
6
Should I cash out retirement or 401(k) to cover house build overages?
1:18:43–1:24:44
7
What steps should I take if a contractor walked off my $112K tiny-house project and the bank already paid draws?
1:24:44–2:06:37